It's about time...(long)

Wow...

I can't believe my last post has been almost 2 weeks ago! It's amazing to see how fast time flies...one minute you're spending a month in Ghana and then the next minute you are in the middle of nowhere in Quebec!!

Let me tell you...this wasn't an easy adjustment. First of all...coming home for 2 days before leaving again was so refreshing. From the minute I landed in Montreal to the second I got back on the plane to leave on Monday morning....I didn't stop for a second!

Walking out of those gates that afternoon at the airport....I was expecting a bunch of people waiting for me to greet me....no one! My mom was stuck in traffic trying to get to the airport because of the construction going on there. She finally got there...it was really nice to see her....but no winter coat. LOL Off to a good start! We then walked over to the canadian arrivals and we got to greet my grandfather who flew in from Saskatchewan for the holidays....he arrived like 20 minutes after me!

After the airport...we rushed over to Miss Evie's school because I had to be there by 1:15pm to speak to her class. This was one of the most awesome things I have ever done...I shared my experience and photos to like 75 grade 5 students who filled up her classroom. They were all very attentive and asked me so many questions. After the talk....they all made me special cards saying thank you and all telling me how lucky I was to be with Miss Evie. One of them even asked me "When are you going to propose to Miss Evie" She trains them well....I tell ya! We later met up with my family and we went for a nice dinner to catch up...but thanks to the blogs....everyone was up to speed with my travels! Later that night, we went through my 1000 pictures :)

SATURDAY...nothing like a nice pre-christmas party at the Vourtzoumis family residence. I think we had close to 90 people over my place. Honestly....this was such a great night! Lots of eating...dancing...catching up. We even had our very own DJ Johnny Markessinis set up his booth and played music for us all night with a nice green/red strobe light! This was a nice way to spend the little time I had back with family, friends and my dogs :) MOM + DAD....you guys are best parents ever...our parties are always top of the line and love you guys so much. Thank you for giving me xmas one week earlier.....it was so worth it!!!

ADJUSTING BACK...honestly...as happy as I was to be back home...I was filled with frustration and couldn't get Ghana off my mind. I really missed the hospital...I had gotten used to the routine and to the people. I remember driving to my house on saturday and I was on the highway passing by the mall and costco....parking lot was full!!! Traffic on the highway exits! I was frustrated with this....knowing that where I was just 24 hours ago...people we're trying to make do with what they have and working hard to be able to have food to eat. Here we are....filling up the malls, buying gifts for the holidays and just spending money! It was just hard to swallow and for the first time ever have I ever been so conscious about this. GHANA changes you...working at the hospital there for a month...CHANGES YOU! I would keep comparing things back to what I experienced...how caught up we get with such unimportant things here....while simple things in Ghana can just make the difference for most...but not available! Anyways...this reaction of mine has made me think and I won't forget this LESSON.

SUNDAY....slept in and went for breakfast with Evie and family to my dads restaurant. Yummm nothing like good la belle province! It was amazing to see how much my stomach shrinked over this past month! I LOST close 15 POUNDS!!! Honestly....it's amazing to see how I lost 15lbs...for a month straight I ate at 12pm and 6:30pm and only one serving of food...never really filling myself and without realizing it....lost weight!!! Later my friend David and Emily came to visit me and I got to see his 2 month old kid....he's growing and is the cutest thing!! So proud of him :)

Spent the little time left I had with Evie and packed my bags for Mistissini. I didn't have enough time to spend with Evie these 2 days....so busy with family and friends and party....but honestly she is so amazing! She had cooked so much for the party....spanakopites, famous brie cheese dip, salad, and just always keeping busy in the kitchen doing things!! No one can ever beat her...she is honestly the most thoughtful girl ever...thanks babes!!!

MONDAY...grabbed my 44lb hockey bag full of clothes and my hockey skates and Evie dropped me off at the airport at 6:15am...kiss and hug and off I was! We are pro's at this now...airport goodbyes ;) There I met up with my partner Evan Martow, a good friend and classmate of mine who I will be spending one month with in Mistissini!!! Off we went to our small propeller airplane! So funny...we were warned at the booth that AirCreebec is not responsible for us not being able to land at our destination due to weather and if so will try to land anywhere it can and leave us there with no accomodations. Thankfully we got there safely after 1.5 hours!!!

We landed in Chibougamau...where we were greeted by Gabriel our taxi driver to bring us to Mistissini which was a 1 hour drive away....he was also driving a pharmacist who was going to be spending 1 week out there and make 3X her salary.....good deal. There was soooo much snow out there....much better than montreal :) Before heading out to mistissini which is a small village...we stopped at Maxi and did groceries! So much fun :) We also stopped off at the SAQ and got some wine and champagne for Xmas and New Years because Mistissini is a dry town where they don't sell any alcohol!!

Finally arrived to Mistissini around 12pm...we went to the clinic to meet the doctors and get our keys to our transit (apartments) which are right across the clinic but everyone was off on lunch and clinic was closed. So we had some lunch went back to the clinic at 1pm to meet everyone! Raffi and Rosy are the doctors in charge of us...they are really nice. They showed us around the clinic and got us familiarized with everything and then went to our lovely apartment across the street to put away our groceries and settle in. We have a nice 2 room apartment, nice kitchen, bathroom, laundry room and small TV room....very comfortable place!

I think I will stop there for tonight...I know I have lots of catching up to do but I got to get some sleep now....wake up at 8am and gotta be at clinic at 9am....much better hours from Ghana and surgery...its almost unreal...love sleeping :)

So tomorrow I will bring you up to speed with whats been going on around here and talk about the cree population that live out here.

Have a good night everyone....we are expecting to hit close to -35 tonight....very windy and lots of snow. Gotta keep warm....Evan doesn't want to cuddle with me...he will give in once it hits -40!

gnight!!!


P.S. I think I may have put off blogging because it reminded me too much of Ghana and I miss it a lot! But I am back ;)

P.P.S. Evs....3 words...I LOVE TOI! xox

Beautiful girl

Good morning everyone! 

It's 12pm here in Accra....for the first time I am here, I got to sleep in till about 11am! Man did this feel good. I am just hanging around here now and about to go for lunch in the city. I was going through some of my pictures and decided to share one of the first pictures I snapped in Tamale when I had left from Accra to get to the village I was staying at. This little girl was outside the airport with her mom and I think they were waiting for someone. 

I wish I could share more photos....there's soo many! But it takes a long time to load them on the internet with the connection we have. 

Will be leaving here in a few hours to get to the airport. It's going to be a long trip back home...11.5hrs to NYC, 5 hour lay over at 4:40am in NYC (maybe I have time to get to Time Square? lol) and then I leave at 9:45am to head over to Montreal. I am very excited! 

bye bye :)

Back in Accra!

Hello everyone!

I forgot to share an interesting story that happened to me last night. This was my last encounter at the hospital before leaving. Since it was my last night, we decided that we would all go round at the hospital for night rounds and finish early so we can all go to chesterfields together to have a drink. We were 5 people rounding and it was pretty busy. We finally got everything done and on our way out when all of a sudden this guy game in from a moto accident and had some scrapes to clean up and give him a tetanus shot. Once I gave him the tetanus shot we were done and all heading out to leave the hospital but I needed to discard my needle somewhere because the rooms in procedure room were closed. I told the guys I would meet them at the front while I went to nearest ward, maternity, to discard the needle. As I walked into the delivery room...I saw a nurse with a baby that was pretty much blue. This baby had just delivered and wasn't really breathing much....I quickly got a bag valve mask and started to ventilate the baby. Listening to his chest...heart was beating but low and his lungs were full of junk/fluid secretions. Now I needed to get the other doctor but they were in front waiting for me....I quickly oxygenated the baby and ran out of the room to scream for the dr but they couldn't hear me....So i ran back to the kid and started bagging it some more...and trying to stimulate it...knowing that in this situation, there's not much more I can do. Finally the one of the doctors comes to find me and sees me with the baby....she came and we worked on the baby together. Eventually the baby started to breathe a little better but it didn't look good for him. At the same time....a woman ran into the room with a nurse and she was about to deliver...so within 3 minutes of her walking in...I delivered her! It was so fast. I was waiting now for her placenta to come out but the nurse there was telling me to hold the uterus up and pull it out...I was trying to explain to her that it wasn't coming out so quickly but she kept telling me to pull....I didn't want to rip the cord off or flip out her uterus...so I told her back at home this is how we do it...so she let me be...lol These midwives have so much experience though...they are really good....but I just wanted to do it how I knew...lol She stressed me out! So....finally after about 20 minutes we got out of there and headed for some drinks. It's amazing how I just went to get rid of a needle and in a matter of 5 minutes so much was going on there! I will miss this place!

So I am travelling back home now and just flew in this morning into Accra from Tamale. Man was I stressed this morning. First of all, driving at 4 am through the villages to get to the airport in Tamale was an adventure in itself. It's really interesting to see the villages at this time...during the day, they are swarmed with goats, pigs, dogs and donkeys....at night....the streets are empty. But every so often you see all the goats in a bunch together....they seem to all group up on the side of the road somewhere and chill. Around 5am, you see the women wake up and start the fires to get the water boiling for their food. The one scary part was that the roads are so bad....its almost as if we are driving on a crash course and trying to avoid all these pot holes, rocks, ditches, at some point the van was almost about to tip over. I got to say though....my driver had his game on....I trusted him so much that I even fell asleep! Don't ask me how I managed...guess I really trusted him and it was better I didn't see the road ahead. We finally got to the airport around 7am and the sky was pretty bad....i was stressing that the plane wouldn't be able to land because the harmattan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmattan) haze was in the air. Everything was good and I managed to get on the plane :)

So I was told that when I was here to go visit the slave castles in cape coast. Supposedly this is something outstanding to go see....this was a castle where they held the slaves before they were loaded up on to ships to be transported to america. The only problem was that its about a 3 hour bus ride, once you get there you need to rent a driver to show you around, then I would have to sleep there somewhere and come back tomorrow and make sure to make it in on time for my flight. I didn't want to risk it...just in case something happens to the bus on the way back and I miss my flight!! So instead...I decided to go for a walk to visit the markets. This was another adventure! The walk was probably a few km's and it was really hot and humid. Taxis just kept honking at me to see if I wanted a ride....I kinda felt like prostitute almost...weird! There was so much traffic out here, air was dirty and smelled polluted...its pretty modern here and theres lots of cars and buildings...when you compared it to where I was in the village. I finally got to this strip that was filled with people selling things, food, shoes, cd's, bracelets...you name it! There wasn't anything great really but I was being attacked by everyone....I literally was the only white person walking there and with my camera out...looked like your token tourist. People would shake my hand and not let go until I told them I didn't want to buy anything from them. Finally after looking around, I turned back and stopped to eat at KFC...yup! My first taste of friend food in a month...gotta say...i kinda missed it but a little guilty for eating it! I told some vendors I didn't have money to buy their stuff and they said lets make a deal and you give me your watch...uhmm no. It's your usual market environment...just hard to get away from it when you're alone! I eventually came back to the guesthouse and passed out till dinner.

Now I am just hanging out and waiting for tomorrow to get on that plane and head home...it's about time :)

Oh and I need to prepare my powerpoint presentation....yup that's right....when I get back on friday, my mom is picking me up and bringing me straight to Evie's school. She is doing a lesson plan on Africa and I will be talking to the grade 5 class about my experience in Ghana!!! When she asked me to do this...I agreed right away! I think this is so cool...share my experiences with a bunch of grade 5s...who knows...maybe one of them will go to med school and do the same one day! It's so funny because for some reason I always end up in Evie's lesson plan....during her stages, she would bring me to her classes and show the kids what a paramedic looks like and an ambulance...so much fun!! I am looking forward to this :)

That's all for now!

Gnight

Evs - Can't wait for friday :)

Last day at the BMC...

Wow...I don't believe my time has already come to start heading back home. It's amazing how fast a month flies when you are having so much fun and interesting experiences out here! It's a bummer because now I have gotten comfortable with the routine and know how most things work around here and enjoy the staff, nurses, translators and team...and now its time to go home!

I got good news though - the hamartan haze has cleared from the air and I should be ok for my flight tomorrow to head to Accra. I am actually a little terrified of the 2 hour drive which I will be taking in a few hours. It will be 4am and we will be driving down these unpaved roads that are full of bumps and rocks...oh well, its all part of the experience and I trust my driver :) Once I get to Accra, I will be staying there till Thursday night because my flight back to montreal leaves at 9:30pm. I got some time to check out Accra, the capital of Ghana! Supposedly there's lots of markets and touristy places to see...I'll see how adventurous I am tomorrow.

I will keep this short tonight because I need to get a few hours of sleep before I leave. I do want to say that I am excited to come back home....to a place where I am used to and grateful for all that I have. I miss the order we have in the hospitals and everything else that comes along with that. However, I am sad to leave here...knowing that I will be getting back to my life while people here will still be here and living the way they are. I sometimes feel bad for the patients here, knowing that back at home...things are done differently and so easily to get the proper care they need. Over here, we do with what we got....we are so limited to the care we can give and for this I am frustrated. I know you can't save the world and I know that things will most likely never change. I do know there are good people out there who give their time to come to places like this and try to make some kind of a difference. Even if its one person at a time...well that person is lucky to have been given the chance to what every person deserves....proper healthcare. There was this boy today which I was really sad to leave. For the last 3 weeks, we have been following him for a wound on his leg after a snake bite. We always smile at each other and go over to his bed and tickle him and give him high 5's...today I picked him up and took some pictures with him....but I am sad knowing that I will be leaving him back but I hope for the best for him. He doesn't know what life is like where I live...for him this is normal life. I know I am getting all philosophical here...but people here don't expect much, their expectations are so low that anything you can do is truly appreciated and goes a long way. Today, I gave out 25 t-shirts and 3 pairs of shorts to this lady responsible for the hospital chaplaincy dept. She will be going out to the village and give this to kids who have no clothes as a christmas gift. The smile on her face when she saw this was so worth it...she was disappointed I was leaving so soon, because she was going to take me into the village with her to take pictures of all the children wearing the tshirts. It's small things that make the difference here and helping those when the need it the most is what most people live by out here. I know I have learned a lot from my experiences out here and these are moments of my life which I will always look back on and cherish forever. As I head back home, I will be reflecting on these moments and get back to you all with what I have taken back with me :)

Time for 3 hours of sleep and off to Accra!

Speak to you all soon :)

Evs - I am coming home babes!!

Weekend fun :)

Bonjour tout le monde! (making sure I don't forget my french out here)

The weekends here are pretty chill...especially when you're not on call. I was on call yesterday but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Nothing ordinary I say...but it's interesting to see that everything I am seeing now, on the very first few days I would be amazed and couldn't believe what I was seeing. Now after almost a month, you get used to the norm around here and take it all in for what it is and do the best you can to help.

It's really amazing the kind of things you see out here....almost always these are things you have heard about, read about and when you see it, it's always in the most advanced stages...which in most cases back at home you will never see! One thing that amazed me this morning was when I went over to check up on a patient who I was following from the night before for a possible appendicitis. There was 6 or 7 women all around her giving her money. As soon as I got close to check on her, they ran off quickly. Later I found out that when people come and greet others in the hospital, they give them money as a custom here so they can buy food, pay their hospital bills, etc... We are talking about people who have no money and yet are giving money to others to help them during their moment of weakness and recovery. Another instance where you see the people of Ghana come together is when they need blood transfusions. I was amazed to hear that whenever we order for someone to get a blood transfusion...which so many people out here need them because of anemia mostly due to malaria! So they need to get someone from their family to give the blood and have to pay around 30 cedis (like 20$) and this isn't covered by insurance. Most times, they will run off to the villages to get their family and find someone who will match and give the blood. It's hard sometimes because most people are anemic out here...so the blood isn't always the best...but you do what you can.

Ok, so I meant to talk about how chill the weekends are here...but got side tracked because the hospital is always on your mind here even when your not working. However, weekends here means all the kids are off school and usually for some reason they all chill outside our houses, sit on our porches or scream for us. They will tell us their names and hope we give them something in return or play with them or they will just stare at us. On saturday, there must have been over 30 kids outside in this open field near our place and they had a ball....playing football/soccer! Man...these kids were so young and can play ball...i was amazed to see how good they were! I was too afraid to play...was in flip flops and the ground was rough...but who am i kidding...they were all playing barefoot! But I sat down like a paparazzi and took photos! They kept yelling at me "white man take my photo" lol These kids are amazing...they make do with what they got and this is why most of them are such amazing soccer players in the future!

Today we woke up to what was the first time the weather has changed in a month! It was all foggy and dusty in the air. Visibility was poor and you couldn't see that far in the distance. Supposedly this happens from time to time and its due to the "Hamartan" - red sand from the Sahara desert that gets blown over here. We later found out was that the bad thing was that planes couldn't land here...which means that we may have a problem leaving here on wednesday! This hamartan stays in the air for few days - i am hopeful that it will clear and I will be able to head to Accra to catch my flight on thursday night. If not, I may have to look forward to a 10-12 hour bus ride overnight to get to Accra! Let's hope for the best :) I wanna come home on time cause I only got 2 days back.

This afternoon, one of the doctors brought us out on a small adventure ride. We were going to another small village area - Nakpanduri and go visit this place called the escarpment...which is a natural site where there is this cliff overlooking this dry forest area. The only problem was that we weren't going to see much because of the hamartan. We got into this van and drove for about an hour or so....geez did i think quebec roads were bad?! Well for once I can say someone has beat us with bad roads....basically these roads have been made with the hamartan sand thats been pounded into the ground. Over time this is just filled with holes and rocks and whatnot....it made for a very bumpy ride, dust everywhere, some offroading, smashing into little hills last minute almost like huge speed bumps because driver didn't notice them! Finally we got there and it was beautiful! We needed to hike a bit to get to the cliff, which I didn't think much of it at first, but boy...this was practically rock climbing. At one point we had to jump from one rock to another while the space between them was a huge drop down the cliff....I was scared a bit but tried not to show it all that much. I made sure to take lots of pictures....but the sight was so beautiful...the sun was setting, we were actually so high up that the crows were flying below us. It was a shame for the foggy dusty air because it would have been that much more exciting! Honestly though, the edge of the cliff was very scary...I was thinking that somehow I would slip and fall...I know mom...I was careful!

Tomorrow is Monday...going to be a busy clinic day! It will be my last clinic day here...can't believe how fast it goes. Alright...time for some movie watching and bed time.

Thanks for reading :)

P.S. S'agapo paraskevi xox

Interesting day! (PG rated)

Today was an interesting day...(this might be a little gory and PG rated lol...just warning the moms and teachers who read this to their kids)

Usual day at the clinic today....but there was this patient that we had scheduled to undergo a below the knee amputation before noon. This guy I had originally seen on one of my very first days I got here...he basically had a bad foot infection and we had to amputate his 5th toe. He got better and left the hospital. He then came back a few days ago with a worse infection....he had very poor circulation and his toes were becoming necrotic. I then got to amputate his 4th toe, which was an interesting experience in itself. However we realized that this wasn't going to solve his problem and that he really needed a below the knee amputation. The circulation was so bad that his foot would just keep getting worse and worse. However, amputations are taken very seriously here...some people would rather no get an amputation and hope for the best...which usually not the best choice. Most people fear amputations because Africa is not so amputee friendly...very hard to give these people the means possible to live a normal life without limbs...especially feet. But we managed to convince this poor man in pain and he agreed to get an amputation of his leg below the knee. As we were going to the theatre (OR) to get ready for his surgery...we were told that he is going to get bumped because a young man needed emergency surgery for a gun explosion in his hand. We went to go see what was going on....uhmmm...let's just say I never saw a hand hanging by few tendons, in pieces and unable to even tell it was a hand but for the random pieces of fingers to give you a hint. Well...we ended up amputating his arm off. This was a very sad case...young man with no arm....this happens so quickly here...people play with explosives here like its candy almost....I don't really understand why...these guns don't have bullets but explosives and lots of people come in with injuries here because of that.

Once we finished, we had lunch and then headed back to the OR to do the leg amputation for the man who was waiting for us. We brought him into the theatre and the anesthetist got him ready for a spinal anesthesia. Once that was done...we were all talking in the OR getting everything ready to start the surgery. All of a sudden, the patient starts breathing very heavily and seemed to be unconscious...we were trying to figure out what was going on....his blood pressure dropped so low that you couldn't feel any pulses....all of a sudden he stopped breathing and arrested. I took over chest compressions and the anesthetist tried to intubate the patient....I have to say that the equipment we have here is there but not up to any standards back home. It works...but it wouldn't pass back home. We continued doing cpr and gave him fluids and ventilated him...gave him some ephedrine...but that's the most we could do....no ECG here to see what his heart rhythm was like....we just hoped that what we were doing would work and get him back. After about 8-10 minutes, I was giving up hope...thinking that with what we had available, this poor man had  no chance to survive. I was wrong...all of a sudden he started showing breathing movements on his own and his heart started back up....I was in shock! Everyone was! We actually removed the tube few minutes after, its not like we can bring him to the ICU and put him on a ventilator. He actually is doing much better right now, I went to see him on the ward and he was awake, responding to our questions. This was amazing....very happy to see that he survived this unexpected twist of events. We didn't get his amputation done....so he's in pain now in his chest from our compressions and pain in his leg from his infection. Hopefully he will be fit for surgery again on Monday...but who knows what will happen till then!!

Once this was done...we headed back to clinic to see the patients that were left. Next story I am going to share is probably one of the funniest moments I've had here with the people....but it may not be appropriate for all ages...but I will share this anyways. A patient came for a follow up visit because he was having infertility issues...he has 2 wives and hasn't been able to get them pregnant for the last few years. Now he was supposed to have returned with a semen analysis which they can do at the lab here. His result wasn't in the chart and I told him that there was nothing I can do until we see his result. So through the translator, I told her that he had to get this done. Now, I am just thinking of how this gets done back at home....so I explained to her that he should go now and come back whenever its done. He then tells her that his wives aren't up to it now and he can't do it. I was confused as to why he needed one of his wives to be there...and asked why? The translator then said well they must do it for the semen. I was like....well tell him to go and do it himself. Now she was confused....and told me how? Then I explained with some words and motions...she starts laughing and said Ohhh...then tells him "You must go massage it and it will come" We all started laughing and the poor man was kind of embarrassed but I had no way of knowing because I only heard what the translator told me. Supposedly here...in order to collect semen, you need your wife and once the deed is done, a nurse will go and collect with a syringe...I was shocked! But figured that was the norm for their culture and can't believe I just told a Ghanaian man to go "massage" himself....lol oh well He will come back with his wife one day and they will get the analysis done...The nurse even suggested he comes on weekend when the clinic is closed and they can use an examining room instead of someones house in the village nearby the hospital! Omg I was laughing so much...I couldn't believe it! I then explained how they do it back home....the nurse then said: "Ok doctor, next time you come, please bring some calendars (she referred to the magazines as calendars) for us...it will make it easier for them men"Haha can you imagine me bringing magazine material here instead of medical supplies....wow!! It's amazing how different the worlds are and yet we are all living in the same "times". One of the younger translators a boy in his early twenties was confused about how the "sperm" would come if the man does it himself as opposed to doing it with his wife! He was very shy about it but we explained it to him. Goood times :)

ok...it's time to get back to the house. I am hooked on the tv series The Wire...gotta watch 1-2 episodes before bed :) and tomorrow we get an extra 30 mins of sleep because its the weekend! A bunch of people are planning to go out and visit some natural site nearby...going to try and go with them if there's enough room in trucks. It's my last weekend already :(

Good night everyone!

P.S. So proud of you Evie...she's graduating very soon from her teaching program and she just told me she got a few A's here and there...no big deal ;) So proud my love! You work so hard and deserve it and that's why you probably don't miss me as much :p

On call

So last night I was on call....we are 3 medical students here who are doing call. Since we've been here we're doing 1 in 3, so every third night you're on call. The schedule here has actually been pretty busy and demanding. Basically since I've been here...we work everyday and on weekends will usually have the afternoon off. After a month of doing this, it gets pretty tiring on you but its so rewarding that everyone coming out here to help and work usually work all the time. When you admit a patient, you will always follow them up and make sure they are getting the care they need to have a speedy recovery or sometimes try and figure out their diagnosis. The hospital has about 125 beds and most of them are always full...so there's lots of patients to follow....therefore we seem to always be at the hospital most of the time...but I can't complain...I love every second of this. It's amazing to see that a lot of people wait so long to come to the hospital that they are usually at advanced stages of their disease...sometimes we can help but most of the times we can't. The other interesting thing is that a lot of people will seek local treatment before coming to the hospital. You will see lots of patients on the wards with stripped scars all over their bodies...stomach, face, etc... Usually wherever the pain is, they will edge their skin and add some kind of local ointment. Some women will even put herbs in you know where in order to have an "illegal abortion"...that happens very often here. Just this morning, a mother came in labour at 4 months pregnant because she put in local herbs to get rid of her baby....this was very sad, she actually delivered and there was nothing we could have done to stop it. Other will even put herbs in their behind to help them with hemorrhoids...doesn't seem to work because one ended up having a prolapsed rectum instead or will aggravate the hemorrhoids even more! It's amazing to see what people will do here to try and cure themselves from while back at home...it may just be a simple visit to the doctors office. The only difference is that the patients who come here to be seen by drs are so grateful...they walk miles, travel for days, wait for hours to see us and we can't really communicate with them all that well....but they never seem to complain or get out of hand. The mornings are filled with hundreds of people just waiting in line to see us....they smile when they walk into the room, some will bow but they never complain. ANYWAYS....I don't realize this but I usually write the way I think and talk...so now I've gone off topic from what I originally wanted to share with you guys.

So yesterday I was on call...it was a really busy day in clinic! It amazes me to see all these different patients with different problems....you think you would be seeing people with malaria all the time, but lately its always been interesting cases. There was this one lady who came with fluid in her lungs...I got to remove this fluid using a needle into her lung space and sucking it out with a syringe (yes..under proper supervision)...usually back at home we have more elaborate ways of doing this, but we do with what we got here...that's the cool part and it all works pretty much the same! That evening, we did our night rounds and saw everyone we needed to see and around 11:30pm I returned back to the house to get some sleep. At around 1am....I got a phone call saying to go to the hospital for some kind of trauma that came in. Once I got to the hospital....I saw someone wheeling in a patient to the theatre...that's where we do all our procedures and where the operating room is. When I got there, I saw 2 patients already there. Supposedly a "lauri" - ghanaian term for mini bus got into an accident and 7 people were badly injured and brought to the hospital. We had 4 people in the hallway some in stretcher some in wheelchair...they were all dirty with dust, twigs in their hair...all of them had bruises on their face, eyes closed shut from being so swollen, one lady had a open wound to her leg with tissue hanging out, another had cuts to her face, another had injured ribs and was screaming and showing us her chest the whole time...she was in so much pain that she dropped out of her chair and spread herself on the floor screaming and coughing up blood on the floor and trying to grab my leg. I have to say...doing trauma in Ghana is nowhere near the same as in Montreal at the MGH. We don't have backboards, theres only one hospital cervical collar and no ct scan....so forget about c-spine precautions and just assess them with what you got...your hands! So we basically went to every patient and did a quick physical exam...palpated them everywhere to see where their pain was....out of the 7 we admitted 4 of them who needed to be observed and sent the other 3 home with pain medication. In the morning we saw that one had a fractured pelvis, the other leg trauma we removed the tissue hanging from her leg and bandaged her up and the other is still be watched for her rib pain. Luckily no one died from this accident...we don't know the details but it looked to be a pretty bad accident with they way all these women looked...who knows where they were going that late at night! All in all...this was an interesting experience!

By the way...I am feeling much better again! This time I took some Cipro to help me and this does wonders! Almost instantaneous relief...I am glad for the travel clinic in montreal :)

I got about another 5 days here at the hospital because on wednesday morning I will be leaving at 4am to get to the airport and then fly to Accra where I will be spending the night there and then heading back home the next day. It's amazing how fast time flies out here...I think always being so busy and having something to do makes it all go so fast. I am kinda sad to be leaving but happy to head home and see everyone and sad that I will only be home for 2 days and happy that I will be leaving for mistissini and sad that I will be gone for another month but happy to experience the rural setting in the middle of nowhere in Quebec! hahaha wow thats a roller coaster of ups and downs :)

Time for bed now...until next time :)

P.S. Evs...today i was listening to Bryan Adams - I'll always be right there :) xox

Gnight

Runaway patient and more

I woke up this morning to 3 loud BANGS...it was around 7am. I simply figured that these were still people enjoying themselves still from last nights fire festival where people were setting off gun powder in barrels. As I got out of bed, I saw Patrick looking out the window and said he thinks those were actually gun shots. I laughed at him, but for some reason, there was a police officer outside in the distance with what looked like an AK47...scary. On our way to the hospital...there were lots of people on the grounds...with suits. You don't really see that here at all. Anyways, we get to the ward to start rounding and heard the gossip form the nurses. Supposedly last night we had admitted a prisoner for chest pain and arrhythmias. He was basically under police surveillance the whole night and was hand cuffed to his bed. Somehow this morning he escaped from the hand cuffs (inside job?) asked the nurse to go to the washroom in the hut just behind the ward...the nurse didn't know he was the prisoner, so said no problem. He then jumped out the window and ran off! The police we're away for few seconds and when they saw he ran off, they started chasing him! Then he ran towards the fields near our house and into the distance to leave the grounds of the hospital...so the police officers SHOT at him! 3 gunshots....they missed and he escaped!! This was really freaky to hear...cause this guy was supposedly in prison for murder. Oh well...he ran off now, hopefully he wont' come anywhere near here. But Mom I know you are reading this...we are safe here, there are around 3-4 guards on patrol near my house...they don't have guns but today when I spoke to them, they showed me their sling shot with rocks.....so if anyone messes around...they will be stoned!! I also managed to get a pic of the cuffs still on the bed post...very cool! We think he won't get too far though because he had some kind of heart arrhythmia...so maybe he will eventually collapse. Things are always interesting here in Ghana!!

Another interesting story for all of you...it's amazing how the people of Nalerigu try to help each other out with any means possible. There is this one young girl admitted for a bad infection that she got in her tooth which spread to her chest wall. We needed to remove the skin from her chest up to her neck and breast in order to get rid of this bad infection. She is doing super well now and healing amazingly. Usually these people will get skin grafts from other parts of their body to cover up the removed infected skin. These skin grafts cost money and for patients with no health insurance...it can get pretty expensive. Basically, a skin graft will cost someone with no money around 150$ but Ghanaian money, which here is A LOT! This girl needs around 3 skin grafts to completely cover her open chest wound. She has no insurance and no money...so the question is, what do you do? We can't really send her off because this will never heal without any skin grafts but she is nowhere near close enough to pay for this. Most of the times, for those who don't have insurance they never have money to pay their hospital bill. Some will stay in the hospital while their family members go out and work to get money to pay their bill so they can be discharged. So this girl has been sitting on the ward, waiting to see if she can get money for skin grafts...but its nearly impossible. The hospital here has a department called Special Needs...basically they receive donations from people who come work here and visit and with this money, will try and pay some of the patients bills. All this to say, this girl today was accepted to have a portion of her bill covered for her skin grafts. It's interesting to see that the hospital negotiates with the patients and says they will cover 70% of the bill but will truly pay for it all because they know they wont be able to pay. They do this because they still want the people to be committed to the payment and that they won't always be getting a free ride if they have no money. They still need to feel responsible for this and not take it for granted. If I were them...I would be so happy! However, here...most people will bring their loved ones home if they can't pay a bill. They don't want to deal with being in debt over saving a life...its hard to understand but thats the way things roll here. Anyways, I am happy to see that she will be getting her skin grafts and off to a hopeful recovery! Another problem is that we are running out of blades here for skin grafts and rely on people coming in to work here to bring some over....there is always something! Surviving here is sometimes more important than trying to save a life through a hospital bill....very sad to see :(

Oh...I am sick again...lol i guess this is normal...i got a fever and diarrhea...hopefully I will get over this quickly...don't want to be flying back with the runs! hahaha sorry for "too much information"

Before I go, I wanted to thank everyone for reading my blog...I have been getting emails and facebook messages...and its exciting to see that you are all following my experience! I hope you are all enjoying this as much as I am. My mom actually emailed me and told me how one of my god daughters was talking about my blogs to her classmates and reading it to them...when this girl in her class heard about it who knew my little brother because her brother plays hockey with mine and they spoke about my blogs at their hockey game to my mom and to top it all off, the english teacher in that class is one of my old grade 3-4 english teachers, Mrs. Adrienne...from Socrates who is also following my blog!! Such a small world!! Anyways...keep reading everyone!

I will go and lay down now and try to get rid of this travellers diarrhea....yay ;)

Gnight!

P.S. Evie - 9 days 19 hours and 4 mins... I can't wait :)

Last few days....

Geeez....it's been a while since my last post! One of the main reasons has been that the internet has been really slow here and wouldn't let me access the blog site to log into my account! I have also been pretty busy around here. Lot's has been going on! (This will be a long one)

So where do I start...

Thursday - procedure day. Lots of wounds to change their dressings. Especially the little girl with the burns, she is such a warrior this one. Her mom spilled hot soup on her and half her arm had burnt. She is healing well, but still suffering. I also got to remove someones ganglion cyst from their wrist. Under supervision of one of the doctors, they taught me how to do it....this was awesome and went really well! I got about 2 of these - more like lipomas (fat cyst) on my arms....I am thinking I may try and remove these on my own now....not here though, maybe in Mistissini lol. That night I was also on call...it was an interesting night...kind of felt like obstetrics. All our new admissions were women with bleeding post delivery or miscarriages. One woman was few weeks pregnant and lost her pregnancy...I got to do a D&C on her from start to finish alone, again under proper supervision. These procedures happen often here, so I have seen a few and was comfortable doing one now. The rest of the night was quiet...so I got to sleep a few hours :)

Friday we got to experience some real Ghanaian food. We told our cook that we would be going out into the village for some food. Me and Femke (young doctor from Holland) went to play volleyball with the local kids again. Man...they are so competitive...for some reason they kept calling me out on fouls for things I had no idea what I was doing wrong...I'm like we don't play like this in Canada...they replied...well you are in Ghana now learn :) Haha...they are all really nice kids but don't mess with the rules! Once we were done volleyball...we met up with Patrick and Eric ( 2 other guys from my class), Dingueman (young dr from holland married to Femke) and Shelley (volunteer nursing student from Texas) and we all walked over to Free Bar restaurant. Not much of a restaurant, you walk in and there are women sitting on the floor making the food and some chairs and tables around. The famous thing to eat here that everyone pretty much eats everyday is called Fufu...don't really know what it is, its a vegetable/potato thats mashed up into this paste. They served it to us in a bowl with some chicken and sauce/broth. I have seen a couple of people in the hospital eating this at their bedside with their fingers....well we had to do the same. So, for once I really enjoyed eating with my hand! You use your right hand, to keep the other one clean...well I enjoyed it so much that I used both my hands to eat...no napkins but they pour water on ur hands and you wash them in a bowl. This was actually really good food! It was authentic...a little spicy but the fact you eat with your hands and see how they make this, kinda makes you rethink your choice of wanting to eat this...oh well...you try not to and enjoy it :)

Saturday - Market day!!! Now this is really cool....every 3 days...it's market day here. This is so much fun and can't wait till the next market day. Basically everyone sets up their booth selling anything you can imagine - vegetables, fish, nuts, shoes, door hinges, shavers, clothes, cloth for funky African shirts and more! The town square is flooded with sooo many people! It was so vibrant - so many beautiful colors everywhere, people smiling....trying to sell you everything! We were the only white people there...I was taking pictures of everything....some love it, some run away and some get mad. Once you show them their picture, they actually love it! I bought some fabric and will bring it to the taylor to make me a nice shirt...I am really excited...almost fitting in soon! On our way back to the house, we decided to go visit this river/running water place. On our way there, we bumped into two boys. Here, there are so many kids and I think are used to the white medical workers that they sometimes stand outside our porch and greet us and expecting us to remember their names the next time we see them. Well...Luke and Ghaniyu met us and asked us where we were going....they decided to follow us and show us around. These boys are like 10 or 11 and are fearless! They really entertained us....their english is so good. Basically they said if they don't speak english in class or if they speak mamprussi...they are punished or have to carry buckets of water on their heads. Once we reached to the water, there were a few people drinking, washing their clothes and just hanging out. This one girl started screaming at us and saying how she finds that boy handsome and wants to marry him. Eric, my asian friend...she wanted to marry him! This was so funny, we took lots of pics...but he denied her...she was only 15 lol We kept walking passed the water and asked the boys to bring us to the mountain we saw in the background. They were happy to and showed us all the shortcuts. On the way, I asked them if they knew the Shakira song....right away they started singing....Africa, africa, africa....lol so cute! Along the way, we saw this pile of dried corn with this white chalk circle all around the pile. Dingueman approached it and the boys started yelling...NOooooo don't go close! there is poison medicine and you will become paralyzed if you touch it!!! They were terrified and begged us not to touch it. I am guessing their parents told them this to not steal the food? Who knows...we were too scared to touch it! So they brought us to the mountain and it was beautiful...very open area, trees, quiet...just beautiful! Eventually, we needed to head back because we didn't have our flashlights and SNAKES!!!!! At the end of this day, I was so tired! Poooped!

Sunday - quiet day. Rounded in the morning and enjoyed the rest of the day. Hung out with people, watched tv shows, took a nap, ate good food! Life is good in Ghana :)

Today - very hard day today....tough, emotionally. We seemed to have gotten a few difficult cases in clinic today. 

Mercy walked into the examining room. In her chart it said she was 16, she said she was 20 but she looked more like 14. Short stature, looks like she hasn't gone through puberty but had a smile on her face. She sat down and said she was coming because she hasn't gotten her period yet and her younger sister has and already has a child. It was clear to me and the other doctor that there was something going on here, much more complicated than this girl expects and would ever understand. Basically, we discovered that she has never developed proper secondary female characteristics. She had the external part of her genitalia but on ultrasound we quickly saw that she had no uterus. This was shocking...you never see this, especially in Africa. What is a simple diagnosis for us is a life gone wrong for Mercy. Basically in Ghana, the culture is that a woman is of value if she can get married and have lots of children....that is how they gain respect in their culture. Now we needed to tell Mercy that she will never be able to have kids, ever. The hard part was that we needed to translate this to her, so we wanted to make sure we did it right. Back at home, before completely diagnosing someone with this...we would send them for more tests and try to figure out what went wrong and some would even get some plastic surgery to help ease the physical symptoms of looking and feeling like a woman. In Mercy's case, there is nothing to do...she has no money to send her for more tests, no support from family right now and knowing the exact diagnosis won't help her cause there's nothing to do for her. Our translator Perpetua, explained to her what was going on....all of a sudden Mercy became quiet and started crying. I had to hold back my tears because this may have been the saddest thing I have experienced here. This girl probably can't understand why this is happening and how but she knows that she will never have children. No man will ever want to marry her...and she was crying, wiping her tears. This is the first time I have seen someone cry here...translator, Femke and I were all so quiet with glossy eyes. It hurt me so much to see that she was hurting. Other problem was that Mercy had no insurance, no money to pay her visit and get back home. Our translator, a Ghanaian woman slipper her some money to pay. I also gave her few dollars, enough to get home and Femke gave her some as well...she then whispered to us God bless you...in english. We asked her to return on friday to see us with a relative and we would explain this again, to make sure they understand and counsel her through the hospital chaplaincy. I wasn't the same for the rest of the day...this was unfair, but part of nature, this was how she was made...if she was back at home, she wouldn't have to suffer with the stigma of not being able to have kids as the culture is over here. This is difficult and hope she finds her way....she told me she was good in school...so she may have to use that to get somewhere and be respected in this culture of hers. 

This evening - tonight is fire festival. People light fires and walk around the streets chanting and being all happy...I guess. Most people we asked at the hospital today said they weren't going....they could have warned us though! Around 9:30pm, after finishing up a case in the OR, I went with Femke, Shelley and Patrick to visit the town square to see the fire festival. On our way there, we saw a bunch of kids...50 maybe in the streets, playing with fire and screaming, running around....looked kinda rebellious but we approached them. I was so interested with this fire stuff...I took a picture...bad IDEA! As soon as they saw my flash....all 50 kids ran up to me grabbing my arms, shaking my hands, asking me to take more pics, jumping in front of me with fire....i was swarmed. Guess I know what it feels like to be Justin Bieber now...scary! I was able to get away but they all followed us now...everywhere, trying to be our friend, some were fighting over who would hold my hand. This was an interesting experience...I was kinda scared but they are harmless...thats what I tell myself LOL Next time...no fire festival! 

I think this is a lot of talking....I don't want to tire you all out with these stories all at once! So I will save some other ones for next time :) I am loving every minute out here and so happy I decided to come here. I have another 10 days to go here...time does fly! 

Evie...I miss you so much! You have heard me say this so many times....but it never gets too old to say it with you :) I am sorry for our skype conversations....internet is so slow, all we ever say is Hello? Hello? Hi? Oh hello? 50 million times. I am doing well my love...I can't wait to see you and miss you so much. Je t'aime mon amour :) (sorry for all that gushy stuff everyone) HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABES...what is it now 5 years and 3 months :)

Gnight!!!!

Out in the village

Today was a quiet day at the hospital....we were done most of our rounds and procedures by 11am and that gave most of us the day off. It was actually quite nice because when you live 5 minutes away from the hospital...it's easy to always keep going there and checking up on your patients and making sure they are ok....doing this everyday for 7 days can get a little tiring...so we enjoy the short days. I got to catch up on some sleep, watch some tv shows and read a bit.

In the afternoon, me and one of the doctors went to go play volleyball with the local kids. This was actually pretty fun. For the first time, I got to walk off the grounds of the hospital and walk through the village to the main road in order to find this volleyball net. This was took us about 20 minutes....the village road is this red dirt road, all my shoes, flip flops and crocs have pretty much been stained red by this by now...my feet too...hard to get this off in the shower. Walking through the village gave me a glimpse of the day to day life of most people living out there. Lots of people walking, kids on bikes, woman carrying things on their heads, people welding on the side of the road, some making couches, others just staring at us. You some times feel intimidated and don't want to look them in the eyes...but when you greet them in their language...they smile at you and either say hello back or say something which they are probably making fun of us lol We met up with one kid on the way there who the doctor already knew...his name is Ibrahim and supposedly his grandfather is the king of the village. He invited us to go visit him one day and say hello...should be interesting! Ibrahim is 21 and when we asked him what he does, he said that he is in the moto business...selling motorcycles, which he then went on saying that he smuggles them from Togo. I was quiet shocked how he was explaining this and expecting us to think this is something normal. He said that we all need to start somewhere and that he was using this as a stepping stone to move up. Don't worry Mom...I made sure to watch out for any funky business ;)

We finally got to the volleyball court which was next to this huge school. The court was still empty as most people were slowly ending school around 4:30pm. We were also in search of the ball...supposedly someone had it somewhere and they were on the search for it! Finally, someone found the ball and then all of a sudden there was like 25 people waiting to play! It was so much fun...most of all the kids spoke english and they were really nice. They were pretty good also...setting, spiking and man did you have to make sure to follow the rules! I also think they didn't think I knew how to play and they kept telling me where to place myself...good times! It eventually started getting dark and we began to head back.

The kids here are so cute and all them yell when they see us...most scream from far and wave saying "hello...how wa yu" So cute...some will even run up to us and shake our hand. I will usually take pictures of them and then show it to them....they are fascinated by this! Some kids are like little gangsters too...they walk up to you and stare you down. The other day 3 kids walked up to me while I was heading back to the hospital...I stopped and shook their hand. Then one kid grabs the strap of my bag and says: "Your bag, I will collect it and go" Here I am getting taxed by three ten year olds...lol I laughed and said sorry boys....not today! Most people here expect you to give them everything you got...someone asked for my iPhone when I leave, others asked for my shirt. Thankfully my mom gave me a dufflebag full of tshirts which I plan on giving to the kids here....however I still havent figured out how I will do this without causing a crowd of kids running up to me and attacking me!

Finally I got back to the house...safely lol I say this laughing but I don't really feel threatened at all...sometimes just feels like we're the odd ones sticking out...actually we are...there are no tourists here. But everyone is really nice!

Ok...time for bed

Gnight everyone!

The plumbing is up and running again :)

Boy was I happy to see some formed stool today...as gross as this may seem to all of you...this may have been one of my happiest days, knowing that I fought this acute gastro enteritis without having to take my medication! I only have enough to cover me once....so I must use this wisely! Feeling much better today...no vomiting, fever, or diarrhea!! I ate well :) It's amazing what 24 hrs can do to you!!

Another regular day at the clinic...so busy! What's interesting about these clinics is that the people who are coming here are all presenting with such different problems! Graves disease, prolactinomas, abscesses, pregnancies  endocarditis, liver cancer and much more. The only problem is that we don't have that many labs to get to a proper diagnosis. Really the labs that we commonly do are: blood smears for malaria, WBC, HCT, urinalysis, clotting (for snake bites), stool culture, sputum. If we need anything else, we will probably refer patients to go to Tamale where there is a teaching hospital, about 2 hours away. Also, we have X-rays and U/S (ultrasound). It's amazing how useful the ultrasound is over here....they only got this portable one about 4-5 years ago. Basically ultrasound everything...I have gotten pretty good at the basics. We mostly use this to screen for pregnancies, free fluid in abdomen, suspicious masses. So most of the diagnosing will stem from the limited investigation tools, following your gut and infectious disease textbooks!

Tonight I am on call...there was a boy who we brought to the OR for a suspicion of a volvulus ( large bowel obstruction)...he had fever, abdo pain and xray showed lots of stool stuck! His abdomen was huge! Felt like it was going to pop any second now. Only issue was that the local anesthetist for some reason was not able to be reached. We sent someone to his house and it seemed like he went off to some village. So we used one of the ER docs from LA (Dr. Sam) to fill in as the anesthetist and I was the first assist with Dr. Ravi the other ER doc from LA.  Operation was a success...the boy didn't have a volvulus but ended up with a bowel perforation likely due to Typhoid fever! We sewed this up and brought him back to the ward. It's amazing to see how little monitoring we do here, just simply sedate him with some ketamine and valium....then wake him up and back to ward...no recovery room. Hopefully he will recover well from this operation with no further complications.

I was talking to a friend here today and told him I was blogging...I realized that most of my stories seem depressing and may paint a scary picture...I do however want to say that we do a lot of good for a lot of people here. Everyone is always so appreciative when they see us, they smile, will bring me stool to sit while I chart, will breastfeed their children while I am examining them so they don't cry from the scary white man! The communication may be difficult but seeing the sick walk out better, happy and lively is a great accomplishment here! We all do with what we got and try to make the best out of every situation!

On another note...I got some other news for my family and Evie and her family :) I got accepted to do a surgery elective in downtown Vancouver at St-Paul's Hospital from July 2nd to 27th!! I am so happy fort this :) Will get to spend a month with Evie and her family during summer while doing a surgery elective! AMAZING! This time Evie will be coming with me :) Yayayayayaya :) Helene...if you are reading...we need to book the flights soon ;)

Bed time! Unless they call me to go back to the hospital!!

P.S.

Dear Lexi - your mom tells me that she reads you my blogs at night for bedtime :) So happy to hear that you enjoy them. To answer your questions - I have made lots of friends here! Most of the little kids are scared at first but then they open up and smile :) Africa looks really beautiful, the weather is always hot! and the ground is dry with this red dirt road everywhere. There is lots of grass too and you need to be careful for the snakes at night! So far I havent seen any yet! I am not sick anymore and I feel much better :) I am sad for a little bit, but I know that they got the best care possible over here and we tried our best to help them! But I know that I am really happy for the kids that leave the hospital with their moms - all the mothers carry their kids on their backs here...seems like so much fun to be a kid! Thank you Lexi for all your questions! Hope you have a good night tonight! Take care Phil

P.P.S. Evie - booojoobodowowow :) xox

Already one week!!

Dinga oula! (Hello in mamprulli)

Lot's has been going on here since I last wrote to you guys. 

Thursday was a regular day at the hospital. It was procedure day....so we change patient's dressings, go to the OR and do minor procedures. There is this one little girl that we saw that day...she has been admitted for a while now but this was the first time I changed her dressing. She is about 4 years old and one of the toughest I have seen yet. She got a hot bowl of soup spilled on her....burning her right arm, chest and right side of her face. The burns were so bad that we had to make an incision on right arm to relieve the pressure from the swelling. Every 2 days she comes to change her dressings and this is most painful thing for her. She cries but has the cutest face when she does. It hurts me to see this, especially being a little child and she will forever be scarred with these burns. 

That afternoon, the doctors who live here invited us over for American Thanksgiving! So we had everyone over at one of the houses and we had lots of food! Turkey was really good :) All the families were over and it was a nice time. 

Friday night was a very frustrating night for me. I was on call and there were lots of sick kids on the peds ward. There were about 3-4 kids who needed oxygen therapy because they were in distress. The only problem was that there were only 1 working oxygen purifier to go around the ward of about 40 admitted kids. At one point, a mother came to get me and made some sort of sign for me to follow her...I headed over to her and she brought me to her 2 month old kid. This little girl had been operated that day for an obstruction to her large bowel. Once I got to her bed side....she was barely breathing...we started assisting her breathing and this helped her for a bit. The question was....how long do we do this for? There is nothing more to do for her because there is no other resources available. The poor kid was going to die and it was only a matter of time. At one point, I was listening to her heartbeat and it was so faint that I thought the child was dead. She had a tube in her mouth which we removed and this seemed to help her breathing a little more. The next day, we found out that the mother took her child home to die with the rest of the family around. It just sucks to see that if this kid was in Canada...we would be doing so much for it until it was able to recover on its own. 

Later that night, a guy came in after having gotten into a motorcycle accident. He was unconscious and not responding to any sort of stimulus. Usually we would be doing xrays, ct scan, blood work up etc...None of that is possible here...well an xray but we only use those when we are absolutely sure we want to use them. We were suspecting that he was probably bleeding into his brain and this was causing increased pressures in his head. The only way to fix this was to drill bur holes into his skull. One of the surgeons from LA thats visiting here was ready to perform this procedure. However, the Ghanaian anesthesiologist here was a little hesitant to do so because of the bad possible outcome with the resources we have available here. We ended up drilling 3 bur holes in this mans head the next day...we definitely relieved some pressure, but there was no bleeding in his brain. Now we are just observing him, he is probably going to be comatose and will likely die. 

Saturday was a very relaxing day - we rounded in the morning and then hung out in the afternoon. Me and this ER resident from LA went to this bar after our night rounds. This place is called Chesterfields and is in the middle of nowhere. You basically show up there, pull up your own chair and they bring you a table. We were sitting outside in the front of the building, there were 4 other people at this bar, who had their music on from their car. We had some beers and then headed home. This was a nice experience.

Now getting home is where all the fun started last night! I got into bed and started watching Game of Thrones on my laptop. Then all of a sudden...started feeling nauseous. I got out of bed and ran to the bathroom....puked my brains out! At this point I knew that I had not been initiated after a week of being here. That night, I puked about 5 times and felt like crap! This morning, I didn't get out of bed...skipped morning rounds and stayed in bed all day. Had diarrhea and fever today. Nothing like a bad case of acute gastro enteritis in Africa :) I haven't been the only one....3 other people have been sick the last few days...I guess this is something normal to expect when travelling to Africa. I am now feeling much better and havent eaten yet....will try that tomorrow! 

So after one week of being here - I can truly say that I am having a great time and really enjoying this experience. Seeing how others live is a real learning experience. People don't complain much over here, they live one day at a time and are grateful for a new day. Most people don't even know their ages out here - the other day in clinic I asked a girl how old she was and neither her or her mom knew...they said 25 and I later found out she was 12. A sense of time doesn't really mean much to them....very interesting. 

I got another 3 weeks left and I am sure its gonna keep on getting better out here. I am starting to settle in and being comfortable with the patients, wards and details of how things work. The only problem is that I am missing my peops from back home. Today, laying in bed all day got me thinking of home and how grateful I am to have such a great family, friends, life and most of all....Evie :) 

I can't wait to come home to you my love :) I really would have loved for you to be here to take care of me while I was puking but I know that would have grossed you out regardless! Je t'aime mon amour!! 

Until next time....thx for reading guys :)

Day 3 :)

Today was clinic day...basically everyone knows that Monday, Wednesday and Fridays is clinic day at the Baptist Medical Centre...I really mean everyone. We get to the hospital at 7:30am to round on our patients and there's already hundreds of people lined up to register to be seen. Again, it amazes me to see how far some people come from in order to be seen...even sometimes if its a simple dressing change or follow up. Some can even be seen by public health centres near the village...yet they choose to come and see us.

Clinic days are usually long and the goal is to try and see as many people as we can. Everyone helps out here...we all get into rooms and start seeing patients. Some rooms will have 3 of us seeing people and we are all sitting side by side with a translator. I have to admit, the one thing that disappoints me while I am here is that I am not able to speak their language (Mamprusi)...there are so many dialects here that even our translators have a hard time sometimes. One thing I love doing when interviewing patients is being able to get to know them quickly...interact with them...make them feel comfortable and try to cheer them up! MOst patients are quiet, we examine them and they interact with the translators and our on their way. It's tough...I try smiling and especially with the kids...try to not scare them....for some it's the first time they see a "white man". Today though, there was this one young girl who walked into the examining room with a huge smile on her face...she was coming for a follow up on her seizures and needed more medication. She also complained of "generalized body pains"...the nurse we had laughed at her and then they both broke out into laughter. Nurse said..."why do you have pains? I am way older than you and don't complain of these pains" The young girl just kept laughing and talking and talking and talking...very unusual because most a really quiet. She kept saying that she's in pains because she bends her back a lot while working in the fields at home. We quickly showed her the proper way of bending while working...hopefully this will help her. I was just so amazed by her though...seizures, working in the field, walked a few miles to come today, waited several hours....and still smiling.

Another interesting man I saw was this little old man who we really don't know how old he was. Most people don't actually know their age here...when they register, most times the nurse will "guesstimate" their age and write it down in their chart. This old man was walked in with his grandson...had a walking stick and looked very intellectual and wise. Probably the leader of some tribe it seems...he was very quiet, not complaining at all but rather sick. We admitted him to the male wards to keep a closer eye on him.

The rest of the clinic day was interesting...I got to see some obstetrical cases and even tell this one woman that she was pregnant after doing an ultrasound on her. This was a really cool feeling...she was happy yet quiet. It's a very important part of their lives here to have children...it makes the women more "important". On a sadder note....had to tell a woman who thought she was 4 months pregnant with a history of bleeding that I no longer saw any baby on ultrasound.

Later on, there was an urgent call for us to come to the to the maternity ward to see this woman who was admitted this morning after delivering at home and feeling weak. She was in shock, bleeding and not looking very great. Postpartum hemorrhage is something that can be a serious complication for woman...especially in Africa when most are anemic and with malaria. We quickly examined her...did the necessary things to stop the bleeding and stabilized her. When we returned to follow up on her later in afternoon...the nurse called us over to where her newborn baby was in an incubator while the mother was been looked after...no response. A day old and this baby for some reason....we will never know...died. Child mortality is something you don't see often....once again...here this is just another day. We waited to tell the mother about the loss of her child....she needed some time to recover from the shock of blood loss while we transfused her with blood...hopefully with no other complications.

At 5:30pm our day ended...headed back to the house while the sun was setting...bats were flying in the air...crickets making their noise and our flashlights out trying to avoid any snakes that may cross our paths. I am sure as we walk passed the Ghanaian people that they must be saying to themselves "look at these white people...so scared to walk barefoot without any light".

Again gooood foood....we were served this nice lasagna dish! I don't know how our cook is good at making these meals...a local here but he made an awesome lasagna...better than some I've tasted back in Montreal.

See you all tomorrow! It's american thanksgiving demain...so there's a party planned for all the medical team here. Very excited for turkey :)

BYE

P.S. Evs...I wore my blue cargos with the yellow shirt today...great match! Je t'aime mon amour xox. I know you got a busy day at school and evening...miss you!! xox

P.P.S. Babes...I just saw that there's a blizzard! Please drive safe tonight...I am not sure if you changed my winter tires yet...be extra careful!!!!!!

My first two days...

I don't even know where to start when it comes time to explaining everything that I am experiencing...I have to admit that this is definitely life changing. 

Yesterday, we landed in Tamale and was greeted by our driver. We dumped our luggage on the back of his pick up and embarked on a adventurous drive...this 2 hour drive is one I will always remember. Dirt road for the most part...people walking in the streets with their heads carrying whatever they were transporting (water buckets, sewing machines, clothes...anything you can think of!) and their little baby attached to their back. 

Upon arriving to the Baptist Medical Centre, it was around noon....one of the busiest times there...I was shocked to see hundreds of people in line, waiting on floor near the hospital, mothers breastfeeding, kids playing....there must have been over 100 people that I was able to see inside. 

We met Holly, who gave us a nice tour of the hospital....5 adult wards, 1 maternity ward, 1 pediatric ward, 1 isolation ward, 2 theatres for surgery, 2 procedure rooms and 1 delivery room. About 125 beds, all full....patients even on the floor in order not to refuse people....who usually walk for miles to get here. Once introduced to the doctors, residents and other people volunteering there, we went for lunch. Now on the hospital grounds, there are several houses...for the doctors and their family, other doctors volunteering, our house is House 7! House 6 is where the food is at! Everyday we have a chef who makes us lunch and supper....OMG so far the food is sooo good! He will even make westernized dishes....had hamburger patties with fries yesterday! Yummy!

Once we ate, we changed and headed to the hospital to be thrown in there from Day 1! We were each assigned to someone and observed them see people in clinic. There are 2 staff ER docs from LA here, 1 resident in ER from LA and a sweet couple from the Netherlands who do Tropical Medicine. They are all very nice and really helpful! 

People basically line up and we call them one by one to come and see us once we have their chart. This is a quick process and most people come here with Malaria and so we ask a few questions and give them medication and off they go. There are lots of really sick people that we admit to the hospital for IV medication, closer follow up and because we may not be sure what they have. Most people have Malaria...but most also have typhoid, TB, snake bites, severe dehydration...list goes on. It's amazing how you learn about this back at home, but here you are experiencing it LIVE and its textbook presentations. 

On the first day...I got to see lots of patients in clinic, debrided bad wounds that some people have. Really bad infections happen here all the time. This one girl....got a bad tooth abscess that ended up spreading to her chest as a skin infection and they had to cut off all her skin on her chest including her breasts in order to get rid of this infection. We see her every 2 days to change her dressings....the amazing thing is, she always has a smile on her face and she is so brave. It's amazing to see how tough the people are out here...sometimes its scary because they wait a long time before coming to get seen. A lot of the times, they seek help from their tribes people and try some local natural medicine. 

Today...well I started off my day rounding on the pediatrics ward. There was a little boy who I saw from far and the nurse was looking after him. We went over and noticed he was non-responsive very weak pulse, fever....we changed his antibiotics and gonna check him for meningitis...by the time we came back the poor child died. This is something that happens often here...there is only so much that can be done for this kids, that you just need to accept it. Would this be different back at home? Of course it would...there would be a whole team of people trying to resuscitate him and do everything they can to keep him alive. Here...well we did that too...only thing is it's not enough. 

The rest of the day went better...tuesdays and thursdays are procedure days...so we see people for wounds, amputated a diabetic toe, debrided a bad ear infection. Also saw some interesting cases on the ward....seizing child, huge spleens everywhere, people with large livers. But everyone is doing their best here. One of the most inspiring things here is that....the family is very much involved with the care of the patient. There is always someone at the bedside watching them over, they feed them, clean them and sleep together. 

Tonight I was also on call. Basically after supper at 7, we go back to the hospital and round on the patients again to make sure that no one is getting worse and check up on the new admissions. We also had a little boy who had Typhoid fever and it affected his bowel. We brought him to the OR and found perforations in his small intestine. Oh, the OR had no scrub nurse, so along with being an assistant while we removed his intestine...I also acted as a scrub nurse. Very interesting OR experience when you are used to the way things are done back at home. They boy did very well during the surgery...however next few days will be important...they usually get bad infections no matter how clean and sterile we are here. Once the OR was done...another patient came in with an open Tib-Fib fracture...his leg was hanging on itself....he got hit by a car. I cleaned up the wound and tried my best to straighten his leg and tomorrow we will check up on him for fixation. Nothing to do now because he will probably get an infection if we close it up. 

Once we finished everything from the hospital...around 11:30pm, we go back home and try and sleep. If anything happens over night, they will usually call us or send someone over to knock on our door to come. 

We also have a school house that has access to wireless internet. So I can always come here at night and check email, skype with my parents and talk to my baby love Evs :)

It's 1:30am now...gonna head back to my house. Fun thing is that its about a 5 minute walk and you need to have a flashlight....there are snakes to watch out for and it's pitch black!

Until next time! 

Thanks for reading :)

P.S. Evie...the stars here are beautiful....wish you were here to see them with me xox

And so it begins...

Sitting in the airport lounge in Atlanta waiting for my connection flight to Accra!

This might be the first time I am able to sit down and take it all in...last 2 days have been extremely stressful with surgery exam and trying to see family, friends and uhmmm pack before I left today!

Last night was nice...went for dinner with my family to Mythos...nothing like a good greek meal before I leave. Most memorable moment was when I was saying goodbye to everyone and seeing my grandfather cry...never ever have I seen him cry before....it was special. Really enjoyed a nice dinner with the family...always very fun and interesting times :) Then went for drinks with friends at Benelux...good beer!

Still hadn't packed my bags till this morning...Evie was still asleep as I had all my stuff everywhere around the house, trying to figure out what I was gonna pack. I wanted to pack light and enjoy the experience....suitcase 56lbs and dufflebag 26lbs...oh well! But i managed to get lots of supplies from the hospital....lots of sutures, gauze and meds to bring with me there.

Then finally made it to the airport with my mom, dad and Evie :) They sent me off and I met up with Patrick and Eric...my travelling partners. This was tough to say goodbye....especially to Evs...she was in tears and I didn't want to make it worse...so I held it all in until I was no longer in her sight.

Had a nice flight from Montreal to Atlanta....little rocky, no leg room, a larger habitus person sitting beside me....but I watched movies on my laptop. It's all good. For some reason though...the flight attendant thought this was his night in stand up comedy and wouldn't stop talking on the overhead PA and kept talking and talking...sooo annoying.

In Atlanta aiport...supposedly one of the busiest airports in the world....who knew?! Went to eat at TGI Fridays...so good! Free refills though and she gave me 3 large glasses worth of coke...my stomach hurts now along with those malaria pills....oh well

Alright guys...it's time to board right now...everyone is in line and they are checking our visas...oh and lots of crying babies...great! It's going to be a 10 hour flight...can't wait.

When we land in Accra....there should be someone holding a sign with our names...will be escorted to a lodging place for the night. Hopefully we'll get a chance to visit some markets! Next morning we will be flying to Tamale and then drive to Nalerigu where the baptist medical centre is!!

See you all soon!

Love you guys...Evie...still missing you....28 more days xox

Ghana!!

Hey everyone!

I am leaving this Saturday for Ghana!

This will be my first month of 2 being away for rural rotations. I decided to take this time and go somewhere else other than Montreal. Once I get back from Ghana, I will be leaving 2 days later to spend one month in Mistissini, Qc....this is way up north and I will be working with the Cree population in a small town of 3000 people.

I have decided to do my family medicine rural rotation in Nalerigu, Ghana. I will be there for one month working at the Baptist Medical Centre along with two other students from my class, Patrick and Eric.

The Baptist Medical Centre in Nalerigu is a respected mission hospital located in the Northern Region of Ghana that was founded in 1958. Currently the BMC is a 123 bed hospital whose reputation brings people from as far south as Accra, as far east as Togo and Nigeria, and as far north as Burkina Faso and Mali. Most recent yearly statistics are as follows: 60,000 outpatient visits, 10,000 inpatients, 1,200 major operations, and 2,500-3,000 minor procedures. 

www.baptistmedicalcentre.org

I am very excited and kind of scared as well because I don't know what to expect! I am sure however that this will be an unforgettable learning experience!! 

I have still not packed because I have a surgery exam tomorrow that I am studying for but I am used to pushing everything to the last minute...so hopefully I will be packed in time and ready to leave on Saturday!! 

I will keep this short now but I just wanted to get a blog started because I figured it would be a cool way to keep my family, friends and anyone interested in being updated with what's going on while I am away.

So follow my blog! 

I will be sharing all my experiences with you guys whenever I get a chance to get a hold of a computer. 

Evie...I am missing you already.